Pakistan Karachi bomb blast kills dozens
Baku, March 4 (AZERTAC). At least 45 people have been killed by a bomb explosion in the Pakistani city of Karachi, police say.
The blast in the mainly Shia Muslim area of Abbas Town destroyed several buildings and set others on fire. Some reports spoke of a second explosion.
No group has yet said it planted the bomb, which went off near a mosque as worshippers left evening prayers.
Pakistan`s Shia minority are the target of frequent sectarian attacks from Sunni militant groups.
Human Rights Watch says that last year more than 400 Shias were killed in such attacks across the country.
Just in the first two months of this year, nearly 200 Shias - members of the Hazara community - have been killed in the south-western city of Quetta.
Karachi, where this latest anti-Shia bombing has taken place, is notorious for violence of various kinds.
But it is clear that the ability of the authorities to protect Shias is now being tested even more severely - and this as new elections are around the corner.
Rescuers have been struggling to reach people trapped under the rubble.
No group has yet admitted to carrying out the Karachi bombing, but correspondents say suspicion is likely to fall on Sunni militant groups.
Groups such as Lashkar-e-Jhangvi regard Shia Muslims as heretics and have stepped up attacks in recent years.
They are thought to have set several training camps for militants and police seizures have shown they have access to large quantities of weapons and explosives, the BBC`s M Ilyas Khan in Islamabad says.
Some activists called 2012 the worst year in living memory for attacks on Pakistan`s Shia community.
But already this year bombings in the south-western of Quetta alone have killed nearly 200 people.
As well as a sectarian divide between Sunni and Shia, that city has also seen conflict between different ethnic communities - Pashtuns from north-west Pakistan, Mohajirs (immigrants from India following the Partition) and Sindhis.
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